1398 The Elemental Hands Brutality Part 3 (1/2)

Saleen's 11 illusions surrounded the mages' metal flying device; the spaces in-between were packed with warriors.

Zzzzzzz. Pang! The puppets crackled with lightning that made the mages' hair stand on end.

The disk-shaped metal device they were flying in was bedecked with wind-magic arrays etched on the surface. The mages kept working even when shrouded by Saleen's territory.

Meanwhile, the illusions focused their attention on their targets. A mage on the disk was trying to figure out which illusion was the real Saleen. As he extended his mental powers to probe them, blood splattered from their mouths and noses as the mages slumped to the floor.

”You people deserve worse than death,” an illusion muttered. While they could do little more than attack, speaking was no problem at all for the illusions.

”This is your fault! You're the one who went looking for Safilos and alerted us!”

A young mage trainer in their midst yelled at Saleen.

”Don't go making excuses for all the bad things you did. You're worse than animals,” Saleen snapped as he cast eight-ball lightning: the balls were a lot faster now that he had advanced. To protect themselves, the mages immediately erected their magic shields.

It was futile: The ball lightning penetrated the shields and reduced the remaining mages to ashes.

The 500 puppets didn't dare attack Saleen. The God of Lightning in the Lightning Constellation was also a puppet god. Dante had captured those puppets and thrown them into the Lightning Constellation to boost their combat strength.

Saleen pushed the huge metal disk into his magic amplifier. His power of soul was potent enough to activate the device with a diameter of hundreds of meters and transfer it to his space equipment.

This would have been unthinkable in the past. Now, it was a no-brainer.

Saleen killed eight mages in one go, including the one who had tried to bait his illusion. Nine level-10 mages assassinated in a minute—not bad! Such small victories gave Saleen little satisfaction.

The mages of the Elemental Hand were starting to get really crazy.

Forcefully enhanced powers filled those newly advanced mages with brutal rage. Back in the day, the old mages would have talked about the need for balance, a ridiculous idea to the new mages who only worshipped pure power at the moment.

What a terrifying thought as Saleen glanced down at the hundreds of sorcerers.

Alchemy City had acquired some ruins and massive wealth during its conquests, giving the city the means to literally mass-produce sorcerers.

Saleen's magic net had regional limitations. Once the enchanters left the area, they were reduced to nothing. Alchemy City was different. It had created a surplus of mages who ended up as collateral damage on the battlefield.

Rafel and Safilos had finished fighting. Alchemy City did not expect Saleen to show up so quickly, much cause so much destruction and devastation.

Despite Safilos's composed demeanor, Saleen perceived the brewing rage in his gray eyes.

”Your Highness, I'm truly sorry for causing you so much trouble.” Saleen bowed slightly in the air. Safilos's territory was moderate, but he still had over a dozen cities. The smallest had fewer than 2,000 people; the population of the largest was under 100,000.

All those cities were destroyed by mages and casualties were heavy.

”Safilos, do you hate me?” Saleen asked, breaking the silence.

Safilos turned and flew off to his residence and said, ”I only hate Alchemy City.”

”It's the Elemental Hand.” Saleen went up to him.

By then, his place was in shambles. The two level-10 mage trainers were incapable of fending off the mages' attacks. It's too bad they resorted to a makeshift magic tower to protect where Safilos had been.

Because the two old mages had no intention of staying there very long, they didn't bother to build magic towers. If they did, they would have been able to keep Safilos's place intact.

By then those mages knew that Saleen was already a level-11 mage from the way he approached them. As such, they behaved respectfully toward him not because of Saleen's power but because of his magical knowledge.

”Thank you for your gear, master. We wouldn't have been able to hold out this long without it.”

Saleen presented them with gifts of level-10 magic nuclei and six level-10 magic scrolls in the sets of equipment. This proved to be decisive equipment. One of Alchemy City's level-10 mage trainers had actually been killed by those things.

Upon presenting his gifts, Saleen knew they would come in handy someday.

Seeing them thank him personally, Saleen said, ”You both did well to protect your liege. It's good that his highness was left unscathed because many depend on him. Later, I'll replenish the magic nuclei and scrolls you lost. The two of you might still make it to level-11.”

Saleen's words put a sparkle in the old mages' eyes, but the sparkle quickly dimmed.

The good thing is that they would be able to extend their lifespan after getting to level-11. The bad thing is that they would have to depend on Saleen to advance to that level, and this meant doing a disservice to their liege.

Naturally, Saleen knew what was going on in the mages' minds: Both had been following Safilos for decades. Safilos's father had assigned those two to his son at birth.